Well, yes, he is.
In the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Paul Chaplin says he actually learned something useful from a hygiene short the show riffed (“Keeping Clean and Neat” from episode 613).
Of it, he writes, “I especially appreciated the short’s recommendation that one should clip one’s toenails after taking a shower, because the nails are softer then.”
So what other useful gems have we learned from the shorts? Keeping a budget the Ben Franklin way? Telephones of the future will be all that AND a bag of chips? The truck farmer keeps us knee-deep in beta carotene throughout the winter?
I’d like to see a discussion about how shorts have contributed to better MSTie living.
For one thing, I learned never to make light of BOOIIIINNGGG! And it’s a lesson that has served me well.
I also think some of those budgeting ideas in “Money Talks” are pretty smart, even if an imaginary fat guy with gout is explaining them to me.
How about you?
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Sometimes I’ll drape a cloth over my head if I’m sitting outside to keep the bugs away.
From “Assignment Venezuala”, I learned not to jump to conclusion about the width of lakes.
selling cars door to door may not be the smartest career choice.
I learned that decorating for a Scavenger sale is a really strange thing to do on a first date.
But hey, free ice cream and Cokes! :yes:
Often before a public speaking engagement I will ‘make the knee test’
That 40% of all car accidents are caused by women’s hinders! :heh:
I’ll say this about Hired! I hope at least one incompetent executive learned from it that maybe, just maybe, throwing a new employee into the soup with no training isn’t the smartest management technique in the world. I doubt that anyone learned anything from Hired! in real life, but, you know, hope springs eternal.
I’ve also learned from Is This Love? and Are You Ready for Marriage? that, if you’re a college-aged girl, it’s not possible to fall for some dope with no prospects and stay in school. Marriage means dropping out and abandoning any career options, period. Avoiding marriage at least assures one of a job in home economics.
I did learn what “truck farming” really meant but only because I was forced to look it up after watching the short. (It’s got nothing to do with the motor vehicle.)
Only pleasant, unemotional conversation makes a family meal run smoothly. And don’t dun Father for more money!
To quote Crow from Lost Continent, “Haven’t we seen this before?” I’m reasonably sure we’ve previously done this topic for a Weekend Discussion.
Trains. They’ll kill ya.
WHY DON’T THEY LOOK?!?!?!?!
Emmett Kelly really enjoyed eating – and it was funny!
I learned that the spirit of music is in all of us. I always thought it was just me.
Ben Franklin actually did have good advice in that short. I didn’t realize it until I saw that short, but that’s actually how I save my money. Also, I found myself giving the same advice to a kid who was asking how to budget his money.
Contrary to what was intended, I learned that studying industrial arts does not really prepare one for the future.
LOL! love the comments. Most of the corporate shorts like Design for Dreaming or Once upon a Honeymoon only taught me that people in the 1960s had pretty bizarre visions of the future, with or without drugs.
The social shorts like Is this Love, What to do on a Date are actually pretty good advice (Boing!) Where’d it GO!?! I really like the line in Date with Family not to be stiff or pretend to be someone else; be yourself but “be your best self.” Now go forth my son…
P.S. I count “Starfighters” as a short for the Air Force. A really long short.
In UNCLE JIM’S DAIRY FARM I learned that in order to provide the freshest, cleanest milk you must wipe down the cows utters a few times daily with the same filthy rag.
From GENERAL HOSPITAL I learned that it’s perfectly acceptable to hound my wife 1nto throwing a party for the woman I’m stalking. I wish they did more soap operas.
So I’ve been reading Incognito, this book on the brain, and it has a chapter on the various faults in our perception that result from quirks in the way our brains are put together. Not disorders, but things everyone or most everyone has. Anyway, one of the things mentioned is how people often have accidents because they really can’t see an approaching train, the reason being that we only consciously perceive a much smaller portion of our visual field than we think we do. This of course reminds me of Last Clear Chance where it says most people who survive colliding with a train say they didn’t know where the train came from (“it came on the rails” “duh”). So that’s something interesting I learned, though I always kinda thought the short was just making that up or exaggerating until I saw the same thing in an actual not-trying-to-scare-you-straight source.
In OUT OF THIS WORLD, I learned not to barge into a grocery door with the thickest Northeastern accent I can find and comment on the store owner counting the money in the cash register. I also learned that Heaven and Hell are really, really concerned with bread sales.
Thanks to the Speech: Using Your Voice short, whenever I have to speak in front of a group, I use plenty of lip and tongue action.
I keep forgetting about the wire rack, though.
I learned that selling wizards have way too many freezer options for you to choose from. And scabs on their knees.
And to use plenty of lip and tongue action.
I learned that the old apartment building I live in has the same garbage disposal unit as the “modern” kitchen in Young Man’s Fancy. And that makes me squishy!
I learned eggs are complicated. They should cost $100 each.
Speech: Platform, Posture, and Appearence #619- The examples are ridiculous of course but the point that body language affects how people will interpret any message you’re trying to communicate is sound. Time for the Knee Test!
I learned that if you have a contest and crown the King, Queen, Prince, and Princess of Posture, you will inadvertently bring forth Timmy the Dark Crow.
I always grasp my knees and rotate whenever I need to re-center myself. And of course, plenty of lip and tongue action!
I think one of the main things I learned from many of the shorts was that there were some CRRRRRAZY attempts at social engineering going on in this country in the 40’s and 50’s. Yikes!
Unfortunately, “Century 21 Calling” didn’t go into much detail as to how animals learn.
But really, as long as they learn to taste good, I don’t really care.
I learned during “Robot Rumpus” that firefighters are allowed to use the company car for personal things.
I learned to appreciate the smell of fresh cut wood chips and sawdust, and putting them in my underwear. I also learned that the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair made people unusually happy and that life would go straight to hell without springs.
I learned from CIRCUS ON ICE that nightmares are real {and they are PINK).!!!
By trying it myself (in the spirit of experimentation and in the privacy of my own home), I learned that Making the Knee Test does no good whatsoever in achieving Good Platform Posture….
I’ve learned:
* The futility of trying to shorten your name from “Alexander Phipps” to “Alex”.
* Being a 39-year-old woman with a well-seasoned smoker’s voice *could* hamper the believability of one asked to accept her young college student status.
* Don’t mess with Bolus and Horseflop if you’re automated.
* Artsy-Dancy-Showbizzy types CAN roll your showroom convertible.
* Dropping a letter in the mailbox has the potential to launch you into unheard-of ecstasy.
* You risk making powerful enemies by cheating.
I learned that even if you work really hard at becoming a really good trumpet player the most you will ever be able to achieve with that skill is to be slightly less annoying while playing your trumpet.
I also learned that if someone bumps your car from behind FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don’t get out of the car to confront them if you have your fancy expensive pen with you. Not unless you want to lose your fancy expensive pen.
I also learned that you must be a huge idiot if you have to be terrorized by a miniature monster from the netherworld before you can see the usefulness of springs.
I also learned that the phone companies are still trying to pass off fifty year old simple technology like call waiting, conference calling, and call forwarding as new and innovative so that they can keep charging you up the wazzooo for it.
I learned General Patton was into Hi-grade weed.
and I learned doctors don’t care.
I have a healthy reverence for springs of all types…
Oh, and kitchens of the future can frost and put lit candles on a birthday cake while cooking it.
Honestly, of all the shorts, the “SPRINGS” one was the least interesting. and why wasn’t Gumby on the DVD with “Assignment Venezuala”?
i learned from “YOUNG MAN’S FANCY”that if a girl wants a man all she has to do is unplug the mixer and shout within his hearing “OH DEAR!!!!”MR.B.NATURAL taught me that in the world of magical spirits ,men look like prancing women in tights!”OUT OF THIS WORLD”showed me that heaven and hell are apparently locked in eternal battle over with how well bread and the guys who deliver them are doing.”DESIGNED FOR DREAMING”let me see a future we never got[damn!i would’ve loved an oven that bakes,frosts and puts candles on a cake for you!]
I learned from ‘Century 21 Calling’ that the future will have CONSTANT ORGAN MUSIC!
The proper pronunciation of Ski Joring.
I’m a seasoned public speaker and once someone asked me for advice on the subject. I then asked, “Have you ever heard of the knee test?” After explaining it’s importance, there we were, two grown men, in the middle of the hallway, crouched over and swiveling. Some others happened by and asked what we were doing. Soon there were five of us hunched over, “making the knee test.” The next day, we were all fired.
I’m a seasoned public speaker and once someone asked me for advice on the subject. I then asked, “Have you ever heard of the knee test?” After explaining it’s importance, there we were, two grown men, in the middle of the hallway, crouched over and swiveling. Some others happened by and asked what we were doing. Soon there were five of us hunched over, “making the knee test.” The next day, we were all fired.
I learned how to make a bobcat plummet 40 feet down from a tree.
“Talk him down, Emo!”
The world needs SPRINGS!
I learned that women can possibly get a job cooking food or caring for small children, with training! That is, until they start their very important career of becoming MRS. someone!
I learned to take at least 6 hours to be basically clean & presentable.
I also learned that Gumby’ dad was a firefighter / matador.
( “That squares my breasts.” – best catchphrase ever. )
I’ve learned that welders with their highly dangerous tools are exceptionally high strung.
I learned that chickens will never make it as seasoned celebrity impersonators. They should just stick to being seasoned, I guess. And that when slicing chicken to serve, it should be sliced to the width of one electron.
Guardian angels are goofy, and need phones. Also, song writing is more important than marriage.
I also learned that court held in the afterlife has clocks.
And, um, lip and tongue action.
I learned to never grow up in the 1950’s. So I didn’t :)
Re: “Honestly, of all the shorts, the “SPRINGS” one was the least interesting. and why wasn’t Gumby on the DVD with “Assignment Venezuala”?”
Because, even though the short itself is public domain, the Gumby characters themeselves are still under copyright. DIGIVIEW had to stop producing Gumby DVDs after Art Clockey’s company went after them. Although I still see PD companies dishing Gumby DVDs out. Anyway, that’s what’s been keeping episode 913 from being released by Shout, because of the damned short!
I must have learned something from Junior Rodeo Daredevils…
Don’t try to ride unwilling animals?
Don’t listen to a drunk old timer who organizes rodeos?
To think tall.